Big Names On Campus

With input from students and faculty, a trustee committee makes a list of potential speakers who meet the university's criteria. "They have to actually speak well and have something compelling to talk to the graduates about," Kruhly said. From that list, the university's president makes the final decision and extends the invitation. Last year, it was U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan; the year before, U2 singer Bono.

Other speaking gigs arise from ties that bind. CNN correspondent John King is speaking at Hobart and William Smith Colleges because its president, Mark Gearan, has known him since Gearan was handling communications for the Dukakis campaign and King was at the Associated Press. Actor William Hurt will address the 500 graduates -- including his son Alexander -- of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. And Bill Clinton will head to the University of Texas's Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs because its new dean, James Steinberg, served as his deputy national security adviser. "I realize there is a lot of competition," Steinberg said. "I'm obviously grateful."

Why did first lady Laura Bush make Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I., one of just two commencement addresses she's giving? She shares with Paula Nirschel, wife of university President Roy Nirschel, an interest in educating young Afghan women.

Michael Schoinfeld, Vanderbilt University's vice chancellor for public affairs, said the first lady accepted his school's invitation because "there are some Vanderbilt alums working in the White House." It didn't hurt that the governor of her home state, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, is a Vandy dad.

That a former president could be in greater demand than the incumbent is not surprising. Even longtime Clinton foes acknowledge his impressive oratorical skills.

The former president will address the 147th commencement at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, the Lower Manhattan school founded on such principles as free tuition and advocacy of social change. Cooper Union President George Campbell Jr. credits the school's extraordinary history for luring great speakers. Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Teddy Roosevelt and Orson Welles are just a few of the dozens of history-book figures who have graced its stage.

But as so often is the case regarding top commencement speakers, it's whom you know and what paths have crossed. Campbell planted the idea when he and Clinton shared the dais at the 2003 Syracuse University commencement.

Clinton wouldn't disclose how many speaking invitations he received, but hundreds is a good guess. (He accepted only four.) But he did reveal his central message to grads. "I always urge them to have dreams that are both timely and timeless, to try to live their dreams knowing that life's real regrets are more rooted in not trying than in not succeeding, and to find joy in the effort," Clinton said in an e-mail last week.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, the senator from New York who is up for reelection this year, will speak at only four of the state's colleges. She visited Buffalo State University last Saturday, and will also travel to Long Island University's C.W. Post campus, Genesee Community College and Adelphi University.

Today, the attention of much of the political world will be focused on Lynchburg, Va., where Sen. John McCain will speak to graduates of Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. The two men exchanged some unkind words six years ago when McCain ran for the Republican presidential nomination. The senator from Arizona is considered a likely candidate again in 2008, and political observers have suggested that he is trying to shore up support from the party's right wing by visiting Falwell's campus -- and risking the ire of longtime supporters who see the move as a sellout.

Most universities settle for small-splash speakers such as state politicians or captains of local industry, but others aggressively enter the celebrity lottery. Generally this means bestowing an honorary degree and covering travel expenses, rather than paying a fee. "We consider it an honor to speak at our commencement," said Penn's Kruhly.

But some offer big bucks. Katie Couric, the soon-to-be CBS anchor, will receive $110,000 to speak at the University of Oklahoma's commencement -- all paid for from private funds, the university emphasizes.